


Chasing the Sun

by aliasmajik



Category: Black Jewels - Anne Bishop
Genre: Canonical Character Death, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-13
Updated: 2013-09-13
Packaged: 2017-12-26 10:18:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/964792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aliasmajik/pseuds/aliasmajik
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It had always been a futile thing, their dreams.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chasing the Sun

Wilhelmina did not believe in trust. Too many times hers had been betrayed, by almost everyone she'd ever met. Her faith was intrinsically tied up in her sister, and she had little usefulness for anyone else she'd met since coming to Kaeleer. It was disheartening. She might be with Jaenelle now, but at what cost?

She had retreated to one of the formal gardens just to get out of the house. There were too many men and witches in the Hall that didn't like her on sight. She couldn't help the ire that beat against her any time she tried to make an appearance, and then the silent accusations that flew around when she didn't appear for meals. 

Then Alexandra and her entourage had arrived. That had just made everything worse. 

So she was hiding. She wasn't too proud to admit that she was hiding. That would have been foolish. She wasn't too proud to do much of anything. She had little left to live for, and pride wasn't on that list.

More than once, she'd entertained thoughts of just ending things. But they were just thoughts. She didn't have the guts to do even that.

The High Lord had approached her and asked if she would be willing to see Alexandra. Knowing that no one wanted them here, she'd agreed, hoping that she could get them to leave before they caused too many problems. That meeting was supposed to be today.

Her hands were shaking. She realized that kind of absently. She was shaking, and going to shake herself apart.

But she wasn't alone. She stood up so fast that she almost stumbled. She caught herself in the same moment that another hand caught her elbow. She looked up into the most blue eyes she'd ever seen, and she felt her face color. 

"Are you alright, Lady?" 

She tried to stammer out an apology, but she tripped over her own tongue. She recognized the young man. Morton, the First Escort to Lady Karla of Glacia. She shied away from him, and he released her. 

"Lady?" he prompted again. They'd been introduced in passing, in one of those mass dinners. If she hadn't been trained by her grandmother to remember names in these settings, she probably wouldn't have remembered his name at all.

"I apologize, Lord Morton. I'll leave the garden to you." 

She disappeared into the Hall. 

\- - - 

Wilhelmina pressed hands into her eyes because she was sure that was the only way she wasn't going to puke on the floor. Her head was splitting. Had she been drinking? Everything was very bluzzy. Blurry. Fuzzy. She had the impulse to shake her head to clear it, but realized at the correct moment that if she did that, she would die. 

A knock at the door that sounded more like soeone trying to come through it. She whimpered, finally reaching around for her dressing gown and pulling it on. She crossed her sitting room and opened the door. What did she look like? Because Morton gave her a slightly wide eyed look and then she was pretty sure he was trying not to laugh.

She narrowed her eyes. 

Morton held up a tray. There was a little pot of tea, a teacup, and a light breakfast. There was also a tall glass of something that smelled potent, and made her stomach twist just thinking about it. 

"Jaenelle thought you might need something to help you get ready for the day." 

Wilhelmina stepped aside, politely, to let him enter. She watched him cross to the table off to the left, where she could take a meal privately. He sat the tray down, and then turned to look at her. He looked slightly nervous, but she was too groggy to think too hard about that. She settled in, and then smiled politely.

"Thank you, Lord Morton."

He smiled back. "You're welcome, Lady Wilhelmina. Please... just Morton." He excused himself and closed the door behind him.

She was halfway into the headache brew when she thought to wonder how he'd gotten volunteered to bring her breakfast. 

\- - - 

They began to see one another more often. He would bring her a book that he thought she'd like. She requested that he accompany her to Hallaway, or to Armdarh. They talked about theatre and books and Craft and their lives. They shared hopes and dreams and fears. 

They fell in love.

\- - - 

"Glacia isn't so bad." Morton said with a smirk. Wilhelmina shook her head, but she was smiling. "It's cold. It's really cold. But it's beautiful." 

She laughed at that. "Maybe I don't want to marry you. You can just be my lover, and visit me in a warmer climate." 

He looked at her, turning to flip her off of him, pinning her beneath him. He kissed her until her toes curled, and her hands clenched his bare shoulders. When he finally released her, she was panting, and he had a roguish grin on his face that she was sure no one else had ever seen. 

"I could be your kept man." he proclaimed. He kissed her collar bone, teasing air cooled skin. She smacked his arm. He caught her hand, kissing her knuckle just above her ring. 

They both stared at that ring.

"We will have to tell everyone." she said softly. He brightened. They had kept it their secret at her request. She'd not wanted to share him with everyone else, not yet. 

"Jaenelle will be thrilled." It was exactly what she needed to hear. She adored her sister. She brightened with a smile. 

\- - - 

"Lord Morton has died. Lady Karla is badly wounded, and we are not sure that she will survive." The announcement that the High Lord gave to the few left at the Hall before he left for the Keep chilled her, but she kept her face steady.

The echo of heartbeats was louder than her footsteps as she climbed the stairs to her suite in the guest wing. She pushed open the door, and closed it behind her. In the privacy of her own room, behind a sturdy Sapphire shield, she let herself cry.

She called in the little jeweler's box that still felt so much like him, and opened it. Inside was a simple white gold band set with a sapphire and an opal. An engagement ring. 

A broken vow. 

\- - - 

Morton finished his report. He felt numb. He felt a million miles away. He was demon dead. He couldn't digest that yet. He didn't have the luxury. 

"High Lord." he said. The man looked up at him, probably wondering why Morton hadn't left yet. Blue eyes met gold. "There's someone who should be told privately. Gently." 

Saetan frowned, but said nothing. There were more pressing things on his mind.

"Lady Wilhelmina... she and I... we were going to be married."

Saetan didn't react, but something about his face gave Morton a sick feeling in his stomach. 

"The Lady already knows." 

Morton closed his eyes. He couldn't say anything, so he just bowed and fled. His life was over. That life was over. 

They had been chasing the sun. A futile dream.


End file.
